"Barry Longyear - Savage Planet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Longyear Barry)

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Savage Planet
by Barry L. Longyear


Armath squatted in the snow as his deep red eyes studied the
two-tracked vehicles in the valley below. The wind gusted, causing a light
rain of fine snow to fall upon his broad, hairy back. As two creatures
emerged from one of the vehicles, Armath drew back his lips, exposing
gleaming white fangs. A low growl issued from his throat and he pawed
the snow with dagger-tipped fingers.

"Hey, Charlie! Bring the caps!"

A third creature emerged from one of the vehicles, it walked over to the
other two and handed something to them. The first two stooped over and
dug at the snow while the third watched them. Armath looked at the
marks the vehicles had made over the floor of the valley. Twenty times the
vehicles had stopped, and as many times the creatures had emerged,
buried something, then climbed back into the roaring metal carts. The
two stood, waved at the one vehicle, then the three of them climbed into
the second. The carts roared to life, then moved away.

Armath's heavy black brows wrinkled as the carts kept going instead of
following the pattern that had been established. He waited a moment
longer, then rose on his four walking legs, shook his heavy mane to free it
from the accumulation of snow, and began walking toward the most
recent burial site. His eyes darted left and right, instinctively searching for
darkness against the snow. Halfway down the slope, he spotted another
male. Armath reared up, bellowed and held out his arms, fingers and
claws extended. The other male reared up and returned the bellow. They
both came down together and altered their paths slightly to avoid
meeting.
 Armath's new course took him away from the nearest burial site, and
he chose another. As he approached it, he saw the other male squatting at
one of the first sites, and clawing at the snow. He turned back to see the
disturbed area, marked with a tiny orange flag. Five paces from the flag,
the snow around Armath seemed to erupt with an ear-shattering slam. He
fell to the shaking snow, covered his eyes, and howled as lumps of ice
struck his back. When the ice stopped falling, Armath uncovered his eyes
and stood, his ears ringing.

The tiny orange flag was gone. Cautiously he approached the site and